Analysis of Q magazine

Q is a monthly music magazine, first published in the UK in 1986. It was primarily aimed at older music buyers, who were buying CD's at a time when they were still a new technology; again, as with LOOK magazine, the gap in the market had been assessed and researched. It is published by Bauer Media Group and is edited by Paul Rees.

The cover of Q magazine is quite striking simply because of the bold red, black and white colour scheme and the large central image, in which the subject is, as in LOOK magazine, looking directly at the camera to create a kind of false "relationship" with the reader. The magazine's title (which is also the logo and masthead) is quite eye-catching, yet at the same time simple, being merely a single white letter "Q" against a red background which allows it to stand out. Furthermore, the title is easy to remember and recognise. The magazine's slogan "Discover Great Music," informs the reader as to what the magazine is about, and is written under the title so that people who see the magazine can immediately become aware of this. The thing that takes up the most space on the cover is the central image, which is surrounded by headlines and captions as well as the main headline which is written in a big, bold font underneath the image. However, despite the fact that the cover is packed full of writing, it does not appear cluttered, as each bit of text is evenly spaced out, enclosing the image, and in a font and colour which still allows it to stand out. The central image is heavily airbrushed and there is a "reflection" in the man, Liam Gallagher's, sunglasses which has very obviously been edited in; despite this obvious editing, it has been employed to good effect, making the image look striking and stand out. It does not follow the rule of thirds as it is a portrait image, which still allows attention to be drawn to it, especially as Liam has a very serious and intense expression on his face.